The young lion that roared at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago had only one mission in life – not his personal salvation but the spiritual uplift of the entire universe and he gave this mission to his country, said Sri Hanumanthrao, Jeevanvrati & All India Treasurer, Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra Kanyakumari. Speaking on the launch of the Mananeeya Eknathji Ranade Birth Centenary Celebrations, Sri Hanumantrao said Be it in aspects of culture, economy, academics, engineering, medicine or in social life Swami Vivekananda had only one note in his speeches: India, India India. When a memorial for the Swamiji was due in his centenary celebrations, the difficulties that it was engulfed was overcome by Mananeeya Eknathji, an organiser par excellence. When Mananeeya Eknathji took up this work it was as a national tribute by a grateful nation to Swami Vivekananda. Eknathji transmitted his vision to the minutest details and an inspired country to took it up. Thus was Vivekananda Kendra launched as a living memorial. Launched in 1972, the Kendra is to channelize the spiritually energy of India into works of national reconstruction with the equal participation by men and women drawn from all walks of life, he said.
The Celebrations was launched by Sri Nalluri Venkateswarlu, President, Siddhartha Academy in the packed Foyer Hall at Siddhartha Akademy on 6 December in Vijayawada. Speaking on the occasion, he said the need was to take Swami Vivekananda’s message to the masses through the Vivekananda Kendra.
Sri MGK Murty, IAS [Retd] the Guest of Honour and Vice Chairperson, Mananeeya Eknathji Birth Centenary Celebrations State Committee, spoke on the significance of harmoniously unifying discordant people to erect the grand Memorial to Swami Vivekananda. We need to emulate this harmonizing quality in our social and national life, he said.
Sri Koneru Raja Harin, Vice President, Operations, KL University and Member, Eknathji Birth Centenary Celebrations State Committee said that Swami Vivekananda’s genius was in recognising the strength of the country and raising her confidence to be a world leader.
The programme was presided over by Sri Guttikonda Sri Ram, Eknathji Janma Shati Parva Pramukh, Krishna district and Member, Vivekananda Kendra Andhra Pradesh Praant Parva Samiti. said the year long Celebrations of Eknathji's Birth Centenary will have several local and state level programs for youth, women, intellectuals, families and tribal communities, he said.
Sri K. Venkataramana, Nagar Pramukh, Vivekananda Kendra, Vijayawada proposed the Vote of Thanks.
